On redistribution: “The recently discovered tape on which Barack Obama said back in 1998 that he believes in redistribution is not really news. He said the same thing to Joe the Plumber four years ago. But the surfacing of this tape may serve a useful purpose if it gets people to thinking about what the consequences of redistribution are,” writes Hoover’s Thomas Sowell. (National Review)

“The most incisive reaction to Mitt Romney’s disparaging comments about 47 percent of us came from a conservative friend who e-mailed: ‘If I were you, I’d wonder why Romney hates America so much.’ A bit strong, perhaps. But the more you think about what Romney said, the more you wonder how he really feels about the country he wants to lead,” writes Brookings’ E.J.Dionne. (Washington Post)

“The problem with Mitt Romney’s comments about the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay taxes isn’t just that they are highly misleading and damaging politically. They also severely misstate and undermine conservative principles at a time when many Americans desperately want an alternative to Obamaism,” writes AEI’s Henry Olsen. (Washington Post)

Room for Debate asks: How should an influential country like the United States navigate relationships with authoritarian regimes that have improved living standards in their nations, like Kagame did in Rwanda and Zenawi did in Ethiopia? (New York Times)

Allen McDuffee writes about politics and policy and covered think tanks for The Washington Post from 2011 to 2013. He freelances and hosts a podcast at governmentality.net and is currently working on a book about the influence of think tanks in Washington.

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